C  -r 


VOL  VIII,  NO.  I  JANUARY,   I907 

BULLETIN  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  MISSOURI 


THE 


Success  of  the  College  Graduate 


BY 


J.  C.  JONES,  Ph.  D., 

Dean  of  the  Academic  Department  and  Professor  of  Latin, 
University  of  Missouri 


Entered  April  12,  1902,  at  Columbia,   Missouri,    as    Second-class    Matter,    under 
Act  OF  Congress  OF  July   16,   1894. 


University   of  Missouri 

COLUMBIA,  MO. 

Oldest  State  University  west  of  the  Mississippi 
river. 

Buildings,  Grounds,  Books,  and  other  equip- 
ment valued  at  $2,000,000. 

Annual  Income  equivalent  to  the  interest  at 
5  per  cent  on  $10,000,000. 

180  Officers  and  Teachers,  2,307  Students  in 
1906-07. 

One  of  the  Most  Rapidly  Growing  Universities 
in  the  United  States. 

In  less  than  six  years  the  enrollment  has  in- 
creased 130  per  cent.  The  percentage  of  increase 
in  1906-07  over  1905-06  was  greater,  with  one  excep- 
tion, at  the  University  of  Missouri  than  in  any  simi- 
lar institution  in  the  entire  country  (From  the 
Boston  Transcript). 

ELEVEN  DEPARTMENTS 
Academic  or  College  of  Liberal  Arts,  Missouri 
Teachers  College,  College  of  Agriculture  and  Me- 
chanic Arts,  Department  of  Law,  Department  of 
Medicine,  Department  of  Engineering,  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station,  Department  of  Journalism,  Mis- 
souri State  Military  School,  Graduate  Department, 
and  the  Department  of  Mines  and  Metallurgy  (at 
Rolla). 

TUITION  FREE 

For  further  information  address, 

MERRILL  OTIS,  University  Publisher 
Columbia,  Missouri 


The    Success    of  the    College    Graduate. 

A  review  of  our  political  history  will  show  tliat  the  aid 
furnished  by  a  college  education  is  such  as  to  increase  one's 
chances  of  election  or  appointment  to  office  from  thirty-six  to 
eighty-five  times;  that  in  a  population  in  which  the  college 
graduates  form  hut  a  little  more  than  one  per  cent.,  fifty-five 
per  cent,  of  the  Presidents,  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  of  the 
Cabinet  officers,  and  more  than  eighty-five  per  cent,  of  the 
Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  have  come  from  this  class. 

It  will  be  interesting  to  push  the  investigation  further 
and  to  inquire  into  the  relative  success  of  the  graduate  and 
the  non-graduate,  not  in  attaining  office,  but  in  performing 
successfully  the  duties  after  the  office  has  been  secured.  This 
is  absolutely  necessary  to  make  the  results  of  this  investiga- 
tion overwhelmingly  convincing  to  all  classes  of  people.  There 
are  those  who  see  in  the  graduate's  success  in  securing  influ- 
ential positions  only  the  success  of  money  or  family,  or  of 
both.  There  are  others  who  would  ascribe  it  to  the  graduate's 
superior  advantages,  which  are  in  no  manner  due  to  the  men- 
tal discipline  he  has  undergone.  Such  skeptics  can  be  con- 
vinced only  by  presenting  the  relative  success  in  office  of  the 
graduate  and  the  non-graduate. 

For  this  purpose,  the  century  of  our  national  life  affords 
a  fair  field ;  and  since  it  is  clearly  impossible  in  the  space  of 
one  paper  to  consider  all  classes  of  offices,  let  our  investiga- 
tions bei  confined  to  our  national  legislature.  For  this  pur- 
pose, let  us  divide  the  century  roughly  into  four  quarters, 
and  then  let  us  inquire  who  were  the  most  influential  men  in 
shaping  the  affairs  of  our  nation  and  what  was  the  proportion 
of  college  graduates. 

The  percentage  of  college  graduates  in  both  houses  of 
Congress  is  at  present  a  trifle  over  thirty-six,  and  this  per- 
centage has  increased  in  the  House  in  the  last  thirty  years 
from  thirty-two  to  thirty-six,  and  decreased  in  the  Senate 
from  forty-six  to  thirty-six  and  three-tenths.  It  is  manifestly 
impossible  to  do  more  than  roughly  approximate  the  peroent- 

3 


4       SOUTHERN  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION. 

age  of  graduates  in  Congress  during  the  century.  Perhaps 
it  would  be  near  the  truth  to  put  the  average  in  the  House  at 
thirty-four  and  in  the  Senate  at  forty-one,  making  a  general 
average  in  both  of  37.5.  Then,  any  excess  in  the  percentage 
of  successful  college  graduates  in  Congress  over  these  averages 
must  be  ascribed  to  the  advantages  arising  from  their  college 
training. 

In  determining  who  were  the  prominent  and  influential 
men  in  Congress  during  the  period  chosen  for  investigation, 
it  is  necessary  to  have  some  reliable  and  impartial  guide.  For 
this  purpose.  The  American  Congress  by  John  West  Moore 
(^ew  York,  1895)  has  been  selected. 

In  the  first  Congress,  the  important  men  were  Elbridge 
Gerry,  Fisher  Ames,  Jonathan  Trumbull,  Eufus  King,  all 
graduates  of  Harvard;  James  Madison,  Wm.  Paterson,  Ol- 
iver Ellsworth,  graduates  of  Princeton;  Frederick  A.  Muhl- 
enberg, educated  in  Germany,  and  Charles  Carroll,  educated 
in  France.  Both  of  these  men  should  be  put  down  among 
the  graduates,  for  they  had  the  training  which  the  colleges 
furnish. 

The  prominent  non-graduates  were  John  Langdon, 
George  Clymer,  Pierce  Butler  and  Elias  Boudinot.  Out  of 
a  total  of  thirteen  prominent  men,  seven  are  college  gradu- 
ates, and  nine  deserve  to  be  so  classed.  That  is,  while  the 
colleges  supplied  less  than  forty  per  cent,  of  the  whole  num- 
ber of  members  of  the  first  Congress,  they  furnished  seventy 
per  cent,  of  the  prominent  and  influential  ones.  Even  if 
Charles  Carroll  and  Frederick  A.  Muhlenberg  are  placed 
among  the  non-graduates,  there  still  remains  the  striking  fact 
that  the  graduates  contributed  nearly  fifty-four  per  cent,  of 
the  leaders. 

During  the  first  quarter  of  the  century  many  able  men 
sat  in  Congress.  The  list  of  leaders  in  thought  and  influence 
contains  fourteen  names.  Henry  Clay,  John  C.  Calhoun 
and  Daniel  Webster,  later  known  as  the  great  triumvirate, 
were  members  of  Congress  during  this  period.  ^'Then  there 
was  Rufus  King,  of  l^ew  York,  who  for  forty  years  was  con- 
spicuous in  the  public  service.  Mention  should  also  be 
made  of  Wm.  B.  Giles  of  Virginia,  an  accomplished  debater, 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  COLLEGE  GRADUATE.         5 

who  served  in  Congress  for  fourteen  years;  of  John 
Holmes,  of  Maine,  an  eloquent  ^  ":  witty  man,  who  was 
for  sixteen  years  in  the  House  and  Senate ;  of  Josiah  Quincy 
of  Massachusetts,  an  able  legislator  of  scholarly  attain- 
ments and  forcible  speech ;  f  John  Forsyth,  the  talented 
Georgian,  who  was  noted  for  Lis  elegance  of  manner  as  well  as 
for  his  statesmanship;  of  Albert  Gallatin,  the  very  capable 
Swiss- American,  who  was  a  Kepresentative  from  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  afterwards  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  and  of  George 
McDuffie  of  South  Carolina,  an  eloquent  speaker  and  earnest 
champion  of  Southern  institutions."  {The  American  Con- 
gress, pp,  247-248.) 

It  is  certainly  a  striking  fact,  that  every  member  of 
Congress  mentioned  above  because  of  his  great  services,  was 
a  college  graduate,  with  the  exception  of  Henry  Clay  and 
Wm.  B.  Giles.  Calhoun  was  a  graduate  of  Yale ;  Webster  of 
Dartmouth;  King  and  Quincy  of  Harvard;  Forsyth  of 
Princeton;  Holmes  of  Brown;  McDuffie  of  South  Carolina 
College,  and  Albert  Gallatin  of  the  University  of  Geneva. 
Giles  was  a  student  at  Hampden-Sidney  and  Princeton,  but 
did  not  complete  the  course.  To  the  list  of  distinguished  men 
of  this  period  must  be  added  Thomas  Benton  of  Missouri, 
and  l^athaniel  Macon  of  ■N'orth  Carolina.  Both  of  these 
men  had  enjoyed  the  training  of  the  college — Benton  of  the 
University  of  l^orth  Carolina,  and  Macon  at  Princeton. 

Of  the  fourteen  leading  statesmen  in  Congress  during 
the  first  quarter,  eight  were  college  graduates — nearly  sixty 
per  cent,  of  the  whole  number — while  all  but  three  had  col- 
lege training.  The  prominence  of  the  college  graduate  is  all 
the  more  conspicuous  when  it  is  remembered  that  the  per- 
centage of  college  graduates  in  Congress  at  this  time  was 
probably  not  above  thirty-six  or  thirty-seven. 

During  the  second  quarter  of  the  century  there  was  even 
a  more  brilliant  company  of  orators  and  statesmen  in  Con- 
gress than  during  the  first  quarter,  and  a  larger  number  de- 
serving of  mention  for  conspicuous  ability.  The  prominent 
Democrats  were  Silas  Wright,  Levi  Woodbury,  Robert  J. 
Walker,  William  L.  Marcy,  Lewis  Cass,  Isaac  Hill,  James 
Buchanan,  James  K.    Polk,    Andrew    Johnson,  Stephen  A. 


6       SOUTHERN  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION. 

Douglas,  Franklin  Pierce,  Daniel  S.  Dickinson,  Kobert  B. 
Rhett,  John  C.  Calhoun,  William  Allen,  John  P.  Hal©  and 
Thomas  H.  Benton.  The  leading  Whigs  (or  National  Re- 
publicans) were  William  C.  Hives,  Tristam  Burges,  Ser- 
geant S.  Prentiss,  John  Tyler,  Henry  A.  Wise,  Millard  Fill- 
more, John  M.  Clayton,  Thomas  Ewing,  George  Evans, 
Thomas  Corwin,  William  P.  Mangum,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
John  J.  Crittenden,  Caleb  Cushing,  Robert  C.  Winthrop,  Ed- 
ward Everett,  John  Macpherson  Berrien,  Reverdy  Johnson, 
John  Bell,  Henry  Clay,  Daniel  Webster  and  John  Quincy 
Adams.  In  this  list  are  thirty-nine  names.  Twenty-flvei  of 
them  are  the  names  of  college  graduates^ — sixty-four  and  one- 
tenth  per  cent. 

The  percentage  of  college  graduates  among  the  promi- 
nent men  in  Congress  during  the  century's  second  quarter  is 
amazing,  since  it  is  almost  double  that  of  thei  percentage  of 
graduates  in  the  whole  number  of  members.  Cbuld  any  more 
striking  illustration  of  the  value  of  college  training  be  fur- 
nished ?  It  means  nothing  less  than  this :  A  college  educa- 
tion incrieases  a  man's  chances  of  getting  into  Congress  thirty- 
six  times.,  and  then  when  he  has  won  this  honor,  as  if  enough 
had  not  been  done,  it  aids  him  still  further  by  nearly  doub- 
ling his  chances  of  becoming  an  influential  member. 

The  large  number  and  the  wide  distribution  of  the  col- 
leges represented  attest  the  growth  of  higher  education  beyond 
the  confines  of  l^ew  England.  Four  New  England  colleges 
furnished  all  but  two  of  the  prominent  congressmen  during 
the  first  quarter.  Fourteen  colleges  furnished  those  of  the 
second,  as  follows:  Bowdoin  4;  Harvard  4;  Dartmouth  2; 
Brown  2 ;  University  of  North  Carolina  2 ;  Yale  2 ;  Middle- 
bury  College  1 ;  University  of  Pennsylvania  1 ;  Dickinson 
College  1;  Washington  Cbllege  1;  University  of  Ohio  1; 
Princeton  1 ;  Cumberland  College  (now  University  of  Nash- 
ville) 1. 

During  the  third  quarter,  which  includes  the  period  of 
the  Civil  War  and  of  Reconstruction,  the  important  and  dif- 
ficult questions  to  be  settled  brought  intoi  Congress  a  large 
number  of  men  of  pre-eminent  ability.  The  leading  anti-slav- 
ery men  in  Congress  were  Charles  Sumner,  a  graduate  of 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  COLLEGE  GRADUATE.         7 

Harvard,  William  H.  Seward,  a  graduate  of  Union  College, 
Salmon  P.  Chase,  a  graduate  of  Dartmoutli  College,  and 
Joshua  E.  Giddings,  a  non-graduate.  Arrayed  against  these 
men  as  leaders  of  the  pro-slavery  party  were  Jefferson  Davis, 
a  graduate  of  West  Point,  Robert  Toombs,  a  graduate  of 
Union  College,  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  a  graduate  of  Frank- 
lin College  (now  University  of  Georgia),  and  John  C.  Breek- 
enridge,  a  graduate  of  Centre  College  (Kentucky).  Is  it 
pure  chance  that  of  these  eight  acknowledged  leaders  during 
the  most  momentous  period  in  our  history  all  except  one 
are  college  graduates  ?  Is  it  not  more  rational  to  assume  that 
it  was  the  mastery  over  self  which  they  had  acquired  in  their 
college  training,  which  fitted  them  to  be  teachers  and  leaders 
of  men  ? 

Other  very  prominent  and  influential  statesmen  of  this 
period  were  Thaddeus  Steviens,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth, 
Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  a  graduate  of  Hanover  College,  and 
William  Pitt  Fessenden,  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin.  There  were 
also  valuable  men  who  were  not  graduates :  Simon  Cameron, 
Oliver  P.  Morton,  student  at  Miami  University,  Elihu  B. 
Washburn,  student  at  Harvard,  Henry  Wilson,  Schuyler  Col- 
fax, Lyman  Trumbull,  head  of  an  Academy  in  Georgia  at 
twenty,  and  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  also  a  school  teacher,  enticed 
away  by  the  charms  of  political  life,  were  statesmen  of  power, 
ability  and  untiring  devotion  to  duty.  Yet  the  leaders  who 
were  college  graduates  form  nearly  sixty  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  number  and  that,  too,  in  a  body  in  which  thie  percent- 
age of  college  graduates  was  certainly  less  than  forty. 

From  1870  to  1885  the  list  of  illustrious  statesmen  in 
Congress  as  laid  down  in  The  American  Congress,  contains 
forty  names.  Seventeen  of  these — forty-two  and  five-tenths 
per  cent — are  the  names  of  college  graduates.  The  percent- 
age of  college  graduates  among  the  prominent  men  is  smaller 
than  that  of  any  quarter,  and  yet  it  exceeds  that  of  the  per^ 
centage  of  graduates  in  the  whole  number  of  congressmen  by 
six  or  seven  points.  Though  the  excess  is  small,  it  indicates 
that  the  college  graduate  has  yet    an  advantage. 

Two  facts  which  appear  in  an  examination  of  the  above 
list  deserve  to  be  emphasized.      First,  the  large  number  of 


8       SOUTHERN  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 

college  trained  men  in  the  list  who  are  not  graduates.  !N'ot 
less  than  nine  of  the  twienty-three  non-graduates  had  more 
or  less  of  the  advantages  afforded  by  the  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. The  second  striking  fact  is,  that  of  the  fifteen  colleges 
and  universities  represented  by  their  graduates,  only  two  of 
those  of  the  first  rank  are  represented,  Columbia  and  Har- 
vard, and  each  of  those  by  but  a  single  representative.  It  may 
be  interesting  to  know  the  colleges  and  universities  represent- 
ed. They  are  as  follows:  Washington  College  (Pa.),  Brown, 
Williams,  Hamilton,  Kenyon,  Columbia,  Harvard,  De  Pauw, 
Indiana  University,  University  of  !N'orth  Carolina,  Centre 
(Ky.),  Rutger,  Bowdoin,  Virginia  Military  Institute,  Emory 
(Ga.).  The  mere  mention  of  some  of  the  names  of  the  college 
graduates  in  Congress  during  the  period  under  consideration 
will  show  that  they  are  the  names  of  the  leaders,  of  men  who 
directed  in  large  measure  the  course  of  public  affairs,  and  who 
exerted  a  profound  and  lasting  influence  upon  our  national 
life.  There  was  Henry  B.  Anthony,  called  the  "Father  of 
the  Senate,"  because  of  his  long  and  distinguished  service; 
James  G.  Blaine,  regarded  by  many  persons  as  the  ablest 
statesman  in  public  life  at  that  time;  James  A.  Garfield,  a 
scholar  and  an  able  and  impressive  debater;  Samuel  S.  Cox, 
an  energetic  legislator,  whose  services  in  Congress  extended 
through  many  years;  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  who,  as  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Civil  Service,  "vigorously  promoted  the 
enactment  of  civil  service  measures;  Daniel  W.  Voorhees,  fa- 
miliarly called  the  "tall  sycamore  of  the  Wabash ;- '  Abram  S. 
Hewitt,  to  whom  the  Geological  Survey  owes  its  existence; 
Wm.  M.  Springer,  an  earnest,  energetic  and  able  representa- 
tive ;  George  F.  Hoar,  a  scholarly  man  of  much  influence,  and 
L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  who,  both  as  Eepresentative  and  Senator, 
maintained  that  the  Southern  States  "were  bound  both  by 
interest  and  duty  to  look  to  the  general  welfare  and  support 
the  honor  and  credit  of  a  common  country." 

It  is  best  to  close  the  review  of  the  century  at  this  point. 
The  difficulties  which  beset  any  attempt  to  extend  the  inves- 
tigation down  to  the  present  are  apparent.  It  is  altogether 
likely  that  many  persons  would  place  upon  the  list  of  leading 
Congressmen  during  the  century  names  which  are  not  found 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  COLLEGE  GRADUATE.         g 

in  the  lists  treated  here,  and  omit  some  that  do  occur.  Yet 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  any  fair  list  would  disclose  ex- 
actly the  same  results  as  have  been  reached  in  this  article. 
The  preneminence  of  the  college  graduate  among  the  distin- 
guishd  men  of  both  House  and  Senate  would  undoubtedly  be 
shown. 

Statistics  testify  to  the  increasing  influence  of  the  college 
graduate  in  our  national  affairs.  For  example,  from  1789 
to  1841,  a  period  of  fifty-two  years,  the  college  graduates 
among  the  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  were  just  50  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  number;  from  1841  to  1900,  a  period  of 
fifty-nine  years,  the  graduates  form  nearly  8Y  per  cent,  of  the 
whole  number.  During  the  first  period — fifty-two  years — 
the  Presidents  who  were  graduates  were  but  50  per  cent,  of 
the  whole  number;  while  during  the  second  period — fifty- 
nine  years — they  form  nearly  60  per  cent,  of  all  persons 
chosen  to  the  Presidency.  In  the  House  of  Representatives, 
thirty  years  ngo,  the  college  graduates  formed  32  per  cent  of 
the  whole  number;  now  they  form  about  36  per  cent. 

This  becomes  even  more  striking,  if  we  confine  our  ex- 
amination to  some  of  the  newer  States.  For  example,  only 
seven  of  the  Governors  of  Missouri  are  college  graduates,  26 
per  cent,  of  the  whole;  but  if  we  take  the  eighty  years  of 
Missouri's  history  and  divide  it  into  two  parts,  one  part  be- 
ing the  fifty  years  prior  to  1870,  and  the  other  the  thirty 
years  subsequent,  we  shall  get  some  interesting  results.  Dur- 
ing the  first  period,  the  percentage  of  college  graduates  among 
the  governors  is  not  quite  six;  during  the  second  period  the 
percentage  is  sixty-six  and  six-tenths.  These  figures  are  very 
significant,  and  mean  that  the  graduate's  chances  of  election 
as  governor  have  increased  amazingly  in  the  last  quarter  of 
a  century.  While  in  the  first  half  century  of  the  history  of 
the  State,  the  graduate  stood  only  six  chances  to  the  non- 
graduate's  one,  in  the  last  quarter  the  graduate's  chances  have 
been  nearly  sixty-seven  times  those  of  the  non-graduate. 

In  new  countries  a  man's  chief  dependence  is  upon  the 
powers  bom  in  him ;  but  as  States  or  nations  advance  in  civil- 
ization and  increase  in  population,  opportunity  becomes  so 
small  and  competition  so  fierce  that  wei  need  to  cultivate  to 


10     SOUTHERN  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION. 

the  uttermost  our  native  powers.  As  opportunity  grows  less 
and  competition  sterner,  education  becomes  more  important. 
Europe  has  already  reached  the  position  toward  which  we  are 
traveling  fast,  where  college  training  is  almost  necessary  to 
success. 

Let  us  now  turn  aside  from  the  consideration  of  the  col- 
lege graduate  in  politics  to  inquire  briefly  into  his  success  in 
other  fields  of  endeavor.  In  medicine,  the  leaders  in  thought, 
the  men  who  are  pushing  their  investigation  into  fields  here- 
tofore unexplored,  the  successful  physicians,  are  college-bred 
men.  Statistics  show  that  only  one  physician  in  twenty  is  a 
college  graduate — just  ^yq  per  cent.;  but  this  ^Ye  per  cent, 
furnishes  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  successful  physicians,  while  the 
ninety-five  per  cent,  of  non-graduates  furnishes  the  other  fifty 
per  cent.  Perhaps  it  becomes  more  striking  when  it  is  said, 
that  from  every  group  of  fiYe  graduates  comes  one  successful 
physician,  and  just  the  same  number  from  a  group  of  ninety- 
fivei  non-graduates. 

The  success  of  the  college  graduate  in  the  church  is  strik- 
ingly illustrated  by  the  bishops  of  the  Episcopal  church  in 
the  United  States,  and  by  those  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  There  are.  eighty  bishops  of  the  Episcopal  church. 
Of  that  number  three  are  unknown,  leaving  seventy-seven. 
Sixty-two  of  these  are  college  graduates — over  eighty  per 
cent.  In  both  branches  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
there  are  thirty  bishops.  Of  these,  two  are  unknown,  leaving 
twenty-eight.  Nineteen  of  these  are  college  graduates — nearly 
seventy  per  cent.  It  is  difficult  to  determine  with  exactness 
the  per  centage  of  graduates  among  the  ministers  of  these  two 
churches;  but  it  is  safe  to  conclude  from  statistics  at  hand 
that  it  is  far  below  that  found  among  the  bishops,  which  fact 
illustrates  vividly  the  pre-eminence  of  the  college  graduate  in 
the  church. 

There  is  scarcely  a  position  of  note  in  college  or  uni- 
versity that  is  held  by  a  non-graduate,  and  when  such  is  the 
case  it  attracts  much  attention.  In  the  business  of  teaching, 
competition  has  become  so  fierce  and  the  demands  of  the  col- 
leges so  high  that  one  must  be  more  than  a  graduate  to  secure 
even  a  subordinate  place.      It  was  formerly  not  uncommon 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  COLLEGE  GRADUATE.        ii 

for  the  leader  of  his  class  immediately  upon  graduation  to 
assume  the  position  of  teacher  in  his  alma  mater.  Such  a 
thing  is  now  absolutely  unknown,  even  in  second  rank  col- 
leges and  universities.  Scores  of  the  American  professors 
are  graduates  not  only  of  colleges  or  universities  at  home,  hut 
of  those  of  Germany,  England  and  France. 

It  cannot  he  denied  that  in  literature  some  men  have  at- 
tained eminent  success  upon  whom  no  college  has  set  its  seal 
of  approval;  hut  that  proves  nothing;  and  the  fact  still  re- 
mains that  the  great  names  in  American  literature  are  the 
names  of  college  graduates.  Hawthorne  and  Longfellow  are 
graduates  of  Bowdoin ;  Webster,  of  Dartmouth ;  Harvard  has 
given  us  Lowell,  Holmes,  Dana,  Motley,  Bancroft,  Prescott 
and  Emerson.  Cooper  is  not  less  the  son  of  Yale  because  his 
defiance  of  academic  restraints  forced  her  to  thrust  him  from 
her  breast ;  and  Bryant  surely  owes  something  to  the  inspira- 
tion received  during  his  two  years  at  Williams. 

The  success  of  the  collegei  graduate  in  business  remains 
to  be  considered,  and  this  will  be  the  last  point  treated.  It 
is  often  said  that  the  boy  who  is  going  into  business  need  not 
trouble  himself  about  a  college  education ;  but  this  is  a  griev- 
ous error.  To  conduct  a  great  business  requires  a  man  of 
as  well-trained  powers  as  to  conduct  any  great  enterprise,  and 
the  man  who  undertakes  it  with  undisciplined  powers  will 
in  every  case  be  outstripped  by  the  man  who  has  taken  time 
to  get  his  mental  equipment,  and  will  be  crowded  to  the  wall. 
There  is  no  better  illustration  of  the  advantage  of  mental 
training  than  is  furnished  by  the  struggle  now  going  on  be- 
tween England  and  Germany  for  the  world's  trade.  The 
methods  used  in  the  two  countries  for  preparing  a  young  man 
for  business  are  wholly  different.  In  England,  the  boy  is 
trained  up  in  the  business,  the  learning  of  this  being  his  chief 
mental  training.  In  Germany,  the  boy  is  first  trained  in  the 
school,  perhaps  even  in  the  university,  and  then  he  learns  the 
business  which  he  expects  to  follow.  The  results  of  the  two 
methods  can  now  be  seen  in  the  rapid  encroachment  of  Ger- 
man trade  upon  that  of  England.  The  position  of  the  latter 
has  for  centuries  relieved  her  of  devastating  wars,  and  while 
other  nations  were  stniggling  for  existence,  this  "tight  little 


12      SOUTHERN  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION. 

island"  was  developing  her  resources  and  extending  her  trade 
relations.  But  when  peace  came  at  last  after  the  !N"apoleonic 
wars,  the  Germans,  too,  entered  upon  a  period  of  develop- 
ment and  hegan  the  pursuit  of  a  nation  having  many  decades 
the  start  of  them.  With  the  "seven-league  boots"  which  edu- 
cation furnishes  them,  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  they  will  rap- 
idly overtake  their  competitors,  and  fiercely  contest  with  them 
the  supremacy  in  the  matter  of  the  world's  trade. 

To  come  closer  home,  it  is  proposed  to  inquire  into  the 
success  of  the  college  graduate  in  business.  It  is  manifestly 
impossible  to  ascertain  the  number  of  college  graduates  among 
business  men  of  all  classes,  hence  the  investigation  upon  this 
point  shall  be  limited  to  a  single  class,  the  railway  presidents 
of  the  United  States.  Of  these  there  are  seventy-five,  if  we 
count  all  the  principal  systems.  Sixty-eight  of  these  re- 
sponded to  the  writer's  request  to  be  informed  whether  they 
were  college  graduates  or  not.  Twenty-seven  of  the  sixty- 
eight  are  college  graduates — ^nearly  forty  per  cent.  This  is 
amazing,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  college  man  in  business 
has  been  so  much  decried  and  ridiculed.  In  this  group  of 
sixty-eight  men  we  have  no  right  to  expect  to  find  a  single  col- 
lege graduate;  for  only  about  one  man  in  every  hundred  is  a 
graduate,  and  this  fact  must  never  be  lost  sight  of.  Yet  in 
this  field  of  business,  where  great  skill,  ability  and  prudence 
are  required  to  manage  the  immense  properties,  we  find  that 
the  graduates  number  not  one  per  cent.,  but  nearly  forty.  This 
can  only  be  due  to  the  fact  that  these  men  have  demonstrated 
their  fitness  to  be  at  the  head  of  these  great  enterprises,  and 
they  have  been  prepared  for  their  work  by  the  discipline  of 
the  college.  The  replies  of  many  of  the  railway  presidents 
indicate  how  sorely  they  regret  that  they  have  had  no  col- 
lege training,  and  how  keenly  they  feel  their  loss.  One  writes 
thus :  "I  regret  to  say  that  I  am  not  a  graduate  of  any  col- 
lege." Another  thus :  "I  am  not  a  graduate  of  any  univer- 
sity. It  would  have  been  of  great  benefit  to  me,  if  I  could 
have  had  the  benefits  of  a  collegiate  course."  Still  another 
writes  thus :  "I  regret  to  say  that  I  never  enjoyed  the  bene- 
fits of  a  collegiate  education."  Another  writes:  "I  am  not 
a  college  graduate  and  never  had  any  college  training."  Then, 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  COLLEGE  GRADUATE.       13 

as  if  to  show  tliat  lie  is  not  wholly  without  merit,  he  naively 
adds :    "But  I  have  four  sons  that  are  college  graduates." 

The  facts  presented  above  clearly  show  that  the  question 
before  the  young  men  of  America  today  is  not  whether  they 
can  afford  a  college  education,  but  whether  they  can  afford  to 
be  without  one.  Every  clear-sighted  young  man  must  see  how 
great  an  advantage  will  come  to  him  if  he  will  take  the  time 
and  trouble  to  become  master  of  himself  before  h©  tries  to  be- 
come master  of  others. 

And  in  this  connection  it  is  pertinent  to  mention  the  in- 
fluences which  are  drawing  the  youth  away  from  the  institu- 
tions of  higher  learning. 

The  first  is  found  in  the  very  character  of  our  material 
civilization.  This  has  so  dazzled  our  eyes  that  we  cannot 
see  that  any  knowledge  which  cannot  be  used  in  making  a 
living  has  any  value  whatever.  Froude  speaks  the  sentiments 
of  a  large  class  of  people  when  he  says:  "Yes,  wet  do  want 
more  light,  but  it  must  be  light  which  will  help  us  to  find 
work,  and  find  food  and  clothing  and  lodging  for  ourselves. 
1^0  education  which  does  not  make  this  its  first  aim  is  worth 
anything  at  all."  The  colleges  and  universities  are  censured 
because  they  do  not  make  the  ultimate  test  of  all  knowledge 
its  practical  utility.  It  is  claimed  that  their  courses  do  not 
fit  men  for  the  duties  of  life ;  that  their  curricula  are  made 
up  of  studies  that  have  no  practical  value  and  are  therefore 
absolutely  worthless;  that  the  graduates  are  turned  out  upon 
the  world  as  helpless  as  young  birds  and  with  no  more  ability 
than  they  to  procure  a  living  for  themselves,  l^o  one  claims 
that  the  courses  offered  by  colleges  and  universities  are  per- 
fect. They  show  the  infirmities  that  attach  to  everything  hu- 
man. Whether  they  are  practical  or  not  depends  upon  what 
is  meant  by  that  word.  If  it  is  meant  that  these  courses  con- 
tain many  subjects  which  a  boy  can  never  use  in  after  life, 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  claim  is  true.  But  this  admis- 
sion does  not  carry  with  it  any  censure  of  the  work  done  at 
present  by  colleges  and  universities.  The  object  of  all  edu- 
cation is  discipline  and  character,  and  incidentally  informa- 
tion.    The  standpoint  from  which  higher  education  must  be 


1 4      SOUTHERN  EDUCA TIONAL  ASSOCIA TION. 

judged   is   whether   it   imparts   mental   power   and   creates 
strength  of  character  in  the  individual. 

The  second  influence  emanates  from  those  who  do  not 
know  what  a  college  education  is,  what  it  aims  to  accomplish, 
or  what  are  its  fruits.  They  point  tO'  those  men  in  our  history 
who  in  every  period,  without  the  advantages  of  higher  educa- 
tion, have  attained  not  only  success^  but  distinction,  and  claim 
that  these  instances  prove  that  a  collegei  education  is  not  nec- 
essary. The  inference'  is  wholly  wrong.  These  cases  prove 
nothing  more  than  this — that  some  men  are  bom  with  such 
splendid  powers  that  they  can  afford  tO'  disregard  the  drill 
through  which  the  average  man  must  pass  to  siecure  the  high- 
est development,  just  as  some  men  grow,  without  any  effort 
on  their  part,  into  giants.  Intellectual  giants  may  forge  past 
their  fellows  on  the  road  that  leads  to  success  at  a  pace  that 
men  of  ordinary  strength  cannot  reach ;  men  endowed  by  na- 
ture with  that  mysterious  power  which  we  call  magnetism,  or 
with  that  persuasiveness  of  voice  and  gesture  which  we  call 
eloquence,  may  rise  to  positions  of  influence,  without  apply- 
ing to  themselves  the  stimulants  and  restraints  that  ordinary 
men  must  use.  But  these  men  were  cast  in  a  larger  mould 
than  the  average  man.  For  the  rank  and  file  of  the  human 
family,  long  continued  and  persistent  exercise  is  necessary 
if  one  would  reach  higher  than  the  dead  level  of  his  fellows. 

This  fact,  however,  must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  While  men 
without  a  college  education  have  wrought  worthily  and  well 
in  all  periods  of  the  world's  history,  who  can  say  how  far 
they  might  have  surpassed  their  own  splendid  efforts,  if  they 
could  have  entered  upon  their  work  with  well  disciplined 
powers  ? 

In  this  connection,  the  "self-made  man,"  who  often  un- 
derestimates the  value  of  education,  deserves  a  word.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  a  "self-made  man"  in  the  mental  world, 
any  more  than  in  the  physical  world.  We  are  all  heirs  to 
all  the  learning,  to  all  the  culture  of  the  past,  and  this,  the 
"self-made  man"  inherits  along  with  the  rest  of  mankind. 
The  influence  of  learning  is  not  directed  upon  him  through 
exactly  the  same  channels  as  upon  other  men;  but  he  feeds 
upon  it  and  assimilates  it,  and  is  nourished  by  it,  just  as 


SUCCESS  OF  THE  COLLEGE  GRADUATE.       15 

other  men.  Cut  him  off  from  all  the  influences  that  culture 
has  set  at  work  in  the  world,  throw  him  back  upon  his  own 
barren  self,  and  he  would  realize  his  own  emptiness.  He 
loses  sight  of  this  point  and  imagines  that  he  is  the  product 
of  himself,  when,  in  reality,  he  is  just  as  much  the  product  of 
the  combined  influences  of  knowledge  and  culture  as  any  other 
man.  These  influences  surround  him  like  the  sunlight,  and 
envelop  him  like  the  air,  and  he  can  no  more  free  himself 
from  them  than  he  can  escape  from  the  influence  of  air  and 
sunlight. 

The  third  influence  that  draws  our  youth  away  from  the 
colleges  and  the  universities  is  the  most  potent  of  all.  It  is 
haste  to  get  into  business,  to  get  into  one's  life-work  and  es- 
tablish a  bank  account.  Young  men  would  do  well  to  learn 
that  there  is  no  time  in  life,  when  the  motto,  festina  lente, 
^^make  haste  slowly,"  can  be  more  wisely  adopted  than  in 
youth.  If  they  are  going  into  a  physical  contest  of  any  kind, 
they  prepare  themselves  by  long  and  patient  training ;  but  in 
preparing  for  the  race  of  life,  the  longest  and  most  difficult 
race  that  they  may  run,  many  young  men  imagine  that  they 
can  enter  upon  this  without  preparation,  and  trust  to  fortune 
for  success.  This  is  a  grievous  blunder.  It  pays  in  the  sav- 
ing of  time  to  prepare  well  for  one's  life-work.  The  well- 
equipped  man  will  do  more  in  ten  years  than  the  poorly- 
trained  man  in  twenty,  and  will  do  it  with  more  ease  and 
pleasure. 

It  pays  in  dollars  and  cents,  too.  Statistics  show  that  a 
college  education  adds  two  hundred  per  cent,  to  one's  wage- 
earning  power.  N'o  arithmetic  has  yet  been  devised  that  can 
estimate  the  per  cent,  that  it  adds  to  one's  manliness,  useful- 
ness, and  happiness. 


Press   of 
W.    STEPHENS   PUBLISHING 
Columbia,    Mo. 


CO. 


